Worship Together: 7/1/12

After being off last week for family vacation time, I returned for week 2 of a new series. During the remaining summer weeks, we’re going to be looking at a collection of psalms in Psalms: Songs of Life.

The Book of Psalms is a great book. In these psalms are captured the breadth of human struggle and joy and how God is present in and above each situation. Not only are the hearts of the composer exposed, but also we see the mighty heart of God in each one. No matter what might be happening, the Psalms draw us back to the truth of God’s character.

In Psalm 16, we see David during a difficult period of his life (he had a lot of those) again affirming his trust in and commitment to follow God and are reminded of the faithfulness and ability of God to handle any situation. When we face difficult times, do we trust God as Sovereign Master and Lord as David did, or spend time worrying and fretting?

In addition, we spent time remembering the freedom we have in our country, praying for our country, and celebrating communion together.

Response – what are the difficult things we are each facing, and do we need to again affirm that we trust and depend on God to handle them?

Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (Stead/Kirkpatrick arr. Chapman)

Communion

Interspersed with some additional verses from Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.

It Is Well with My Soul (Spafford/Bliss)

As a transition, we shared the second half of the Horatio Spafford story about what happened to him after he wrote this song.

Close & Commission: Psalm 67:1-2

Observations:

It was one of those services where there were a lot of different elements to include and, hopefully, draw together. I always struggle a little bit when there are a lot of seemingly unrelated items, but in retrospect, everything really worked together. I also tend to struggle a bit with properly blending patriotism and Christian worship. The service flowed smoothly, though, and the parts all contributed to the whole.

You may think that Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus is an unconventional choice to go along with communion. And to be honest, so did I. But it was one of those things where I strongly felt led to do it, so we did. And I think it worked well. It really helped to tie together the message with communion.

Prepping for this week was a challenge. Not only because of the variety of elements to include, but because of coming back from vacation and also facing some challenging matters in the life of the church. It was hard not to be distracted by those things, but am thankful for God’s leading in this week.

The Stories of Freedom video is a powerful video. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. Very impactful.

I hope that your time of gathering and communal worship was honoring to God, focused on Christ, and facilitated the participation of the community. May the Lord continue to guide each of us as we lead and participate in worship.

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Chris

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